Step up your job hunt with Resume Builder and Job Search Manager

ValidateJOB's Resume Builder and Job Search Manager is a free program and password-protected online service designed to assist job seekers with a variety of wizard-based tools and Web-based resources. It not only helps you create a winning resume and post it online but also obtain references, attach certification and documentation, and even submit job applications. Both the software and the online service are free, except for an optional proactive background check and report known as a ValidateJOB Report.

We downloaded and installed Resume Builder and then created our free online account. The Account Dashboard serves as a handy start page for all your job search resources, including all the resumes you've created and attached; the certifications, references, and other resources in your Portfolio; your job applications and ValidateJOB Reports, if any; and housekeeping like passwords and friends. We clicked Add Resume to start the resume wizard, which walked us through each section: Contact Information, Objective, Career Highlights, Employment History, Education, and Skills. After we'd previewed our resume, we clicked Finish to add it to our list. At any time we could click the Dashboard link to return to the front page. The References wizard helps you request personal and character references from previous employers and others as well as e-mail the references to prospective employers. The Job Application tool included not only resumes, references and other standard resources but also Cover Letter and Confirm Email tools. The Portfolio tool lets us attach a variety of extra resources such as videos and images.

This program is called Resume Builder and Job Search Manager, so we spent some time perusing the Job Search Resources menu, which includes state-by-state, city-by-city listings of job resources (U.S.-only, though) and Local Newspaper Job Listings. The Search Jobs Online tool let us search the Internet for local or global job listings. It includes an RSS feed. Nothing about this program or the Web-based services was confusing in any way, but a Help file is available. While we didn't actually send off any applications or resumes, Resume Builder and Job Search Manager certainly seems ready for the job.